Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha Review: One of the Best 2-in-1 Laptops

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Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha: At First Glance

Most businessmen and women need laptops that offer mobility and at the same time, functionality. Thanks to the numerous ultraportable laptop out there, there are plenty of options to choose from.

One of these options is the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha, which was released in 2021. This laptop is not only portable, it is also a 2-in-1 convertible laptop which means that you can use it in different modes.

Appreciably, the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha comes at a fair price. To be more specific, at the time I wrote this review article (May 2022), the laptop had a starting price of $699.

At this point, you might be interested to know whether there is anything about this laptop that makes it stand out among similar laptops. To find out, let us proceed to the remaining parts of this review.

Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha: Design, Display, Ports, and Connectivity

The Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha comes with an attractive look, and that is one thing most people will appreciate about it. The chassis is built with aluminum which makes it sturdy and should survive a reasonable level of harsh conditions.

Furthermore, the laptop comes in three brilliant color options, which include royal silver, mystic black, and royal blue. However, for a more fascinating and catchy look, you should go for the royal silver color.

By the way, my review model comes in royal silver.

Moving on, the laptop’s lid gives a smooth and sturdy feel when you run your palm over it. Also, you will notice a ”SAMSUNG” insignia written on the left side of the lid.

This insignia is white; thereby, it is more visible on the royal blue and mystic black color options. However, on the royal silver color option, there isn’t much contrast between the lid and the insignia.

Coming down to the lower end of the lid, you will find the laptop’s dual hinges holding the lid to the laptop’s base.

Although these hinges are strong enough to prevent wobbling, they still allow the lid to open easily with just one hand. Also, because this is a 2-in-1 laptop, the hinges allow a 360-degree rotation of the lid.

Hence, it is possible to use this laptop in four different modes. Talking about the modes, this laptop can be used in tent mode, laptop mode, tablet mode, and stand mode.

The tablet mode permits the laptop’s lid to rotate full 360 degrees, with the lid resting on the laptop’s bottom. Also, in tablet mode, the keyboard is no longer enabled, and you can only use the touchscreen for input.

The next mode is the stand mode, where the laptop is folded in a backward ”L” shape. In this mode, the screen faces the user while the deck of the laptop serves as the stand.

Moreover, in stand mode, the keyboard is also disabled, and the touchscreen is used for input. Besides, when you fold the laptop into an inverted ”V” shape, that is called tent mode.

In tent mode, the user also cannot access the keyboard. Hence, the touchscreen is also used for input in the tent mode.

Lastly, there is the laptop mode and this is the conventional way of using a laptop. In the laptop mode, users will have access to the keyboard as well as the touchscreen.

At this point, let us talk about what you will see when you open the lid of the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha. The first thing you will notice is the laptop’s modern-looking display.

Speaking of which, the display is an edge-to-edge type which implies that it features extremely slim bezels. Meanwhile, the display has a Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) resolution.

With the Full HD resolution, this laptop boasts a clear and sharp picture quality. Although there are better display resolutions, such as 4K and QHD, the FHD will suffice on this laptop.

Fortunately, the laptop’s display comes with a Quantum LED (QLED) panel. This QLED display panel usually allows a display to deliver high brightness for enhanced image quality.

Talking about brightness, the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha’s display features 400 nits of maximum brightness. With this maximum brightness, you can use the laptop in a well-lit room or in a bright environment.

Besides, as a convertible 2-in-1 laptop, this laptop’s display is a touchscreen. Hence, you can input by tapping and swiping on the screen with your fingers.

You can also use a stylus pen for registering inputs. However, it is quite unfortunate that the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha does not ship with the famous Samsung S pen.

Hence, you have to purchase the S pen separately if you wish to use it.

That said, at the center of the display’s top bezel, there is a 720p HD camera for taking pictures and conducting video calls. Meanwhile, at the center of the bottom bezel, there is a “SAMSUNG” inscription that serves as a means of brand identification.

Moving on to the laptop’s base, you will see the full-size keyboard. Thankfully, the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha’s keyboard offers a comfortable typing experience with accurate feedback.

The keyboard also has well-spaced keys to provide the user with adequate typing accuracy. Below the keyboard, you will find the laptop’s integrated touchpad.

This laptop has a very sensitive touchpad which causes no jumping or restriction to the cursor.

Having talked about the laptop’s keyboard, let us visit the ports of this laptop. The right side of the laptop features one USB 3.2 port and an audio combo jack.

On the left side, the laptop has one USB Type-C port, one USB 3.2 port, and one HDMI port. That aside, the laptop comes with Bluetooth 5.1, which a user can use to transfer files or exchange data with another Bluetooth-enabled device.

Also, to offer wireless connectivity, the laptop comes with Wi-Fi 6 802.11 ax 2×2.

Moving on, let us now highlight the laptop’s weight and dimensions. Regarding that, the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha weighs 1188 g and measures 304.8 x 201.9 x 12.9 mm (W x D x H).

With this weight and dimension, this laptop is ultra-slim and lightweight. Hence, this Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha can be taken on a long journey in a handbag without stress.

In comparison, the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro 1370 weighs more, weighing 1190 g. It also measures 330 x 228 x 12.8 mm (W x D x H).

Moreover, the HP Spectre x360 – 13-AE086TU also weighs more, with a weight of 1260 g. Also, this HP laptop measures 306.8 x 194.5 x 17 mm (W x D x H).

In conclusion, the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha has a good design, and it is lightweight. Not only that, the laptop has a good display that offers good image quality.

Hence, I will be rating the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha a nine out of ten in this design review section.

Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha: Processor (CPU) Performance

The Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha comes with an Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor. This processor is a quad-core processor, and it has a base frequency of 2.80 GHz.

Furthermore, it has a boost frequency of 4.70 GHz and 12 MB cache memory. Also, the Intel Core i7-1165G7 is an eleventh-generation processor, and it is very powerful.

Thus, with this processor, the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha will handle basically most computing tasks effectively. Having said that, let us talk about the result of this laptop in a Cinebench R15 benchmark test to further verify its performance.

This benchmark test evaluates the processing performance of a computer by putting its CPU’s cores through intensive workloads. As a result, the test involves the single-core test and the multi-core test.

The single-core test evaluates the computer’s performance when one of its processor’s cores is under intensive workloads. Meanwhile, the multi-core test measures the computer’s performance when all of its processor’s cores are in use.

You should be aware that in this benchmark test, the laptop with the highest score is regarded as the better performer. With that in mind, the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha had a single-core test score of 211.8 points.

On the other hand, the laptop had a score of 848 points on the multi-core test. Comparatively, this laptop performed better than the HP Envy 13-ba1475ng, which had a multi-core test score of 699 points.

It also had a single-core test score of 206 points. For a better comparison perspective, you should note that the HP Envy 13-ba1475ng also uses an Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor.

After thorough consideration, I will offer the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha a rating of eight out of ten in this processor review section.

Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha: Memory (RAM) Performance

The Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha comes with an LPDDR4X memory. Furthermore, the laptop has one memory slot and features a standard memory of 16 GB.

Sadly, the maximum memory capacity that the laptop supports is also 16 GB. As a result, you won’t be able to upgrade the laptop’s memory to more than 16 GB RAM.

Nevertheless, 16 GB RAM is enough for Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha to carry out any computing tasks smoothly, including heavy multitasking. Speaking of which, the laptop should be capable of opening more than 20 Chrome tabs at the same time without lagging.

Furthermore, streaming YouTube videos while these tabs are open won’t make the laptop slow down even a bit. That said, to further ascertain the laptop’s memory performance, we will now discuss its PCMark 10 test result.

In case you don’t know, PCMark 10 involves a comprehensive set of tests that measures a computer’s memory performance by simulating various productivity workloads. Moreover, in this benchmark test, the laptop that has the highest score will be regarded as the best performer.

On that note, the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha scored 4735 points in the PCMark 10 test. Unfortunately, in comparison with the ASUS ROG GL753VE, the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha underperformed.

Specifically, the ASUS ROG GL53VE scored 5171 points in the PCMark 10 benchmark test. Moreover, the Nexoc G739 also performed better than the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha, scoring 5243 points on the test.

In conclusion, the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha offers sufficient standard memory that enables it to seamlessly multitask. However, it was beaten by most of its competitors on a memory benchmark test.

Hence, I have decided to rate the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha an eight out of ten in this memory review section.

Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha: Storage Options and Performance

The Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha comes with SSD and supports a maximum storage capacity of 512 GB. Although 512 GB of storage space would be enough for most people, storage-hungry users might think otherwise.

Thankfully, this laptop offers a microSD card reader that allows for storage expansion. Besides, it might interest you to know that SSD is the fastest storage drive you will find in the market.

Hence, with its SSD, the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha should offer rapid boot time. Also, the laptop should deliver a fast transfer speed.

To further verify the laptop’s storage performance, let us talk about the laptop’s result on the CrystalDiskMark benchmark test. For your information, CrystalDiskmark is a benchmark test that measures the sequential read and write speed of a computer’s storage drive.

In case you don’t know, read speed means how fast it takes a computer’s storage drive to open a file. On the other hand, write speed describes how fast it takes the storage drive to store a file.

Moreover, on the CrystalDiskMark test, the higher the “MBps” value, the faster the read and write speed of the computer’s storage drive. So, the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha recorded a sequential read speed of 519.3 MBps and a sequential write speed of 238.6 MBps.

In comparison, the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro 1370, which also uses SSD storage, offered a sequential read speed of 447.9 MBps. It also delivered a sequential write speed of 304.8 MBps.

Hence, this Lenovo laptop will open and save files faster than the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha.

As a result, I will be rating the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha an eight out of ten in this storage review section.

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Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha: Graphics Card Performance

The Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha features Intel Iris Xe Graphics. This GPU is an integrated GPU and features a base frequency of 300 MHz and a boost frequency of 1100 MHz.

For your information, an integrated graphics card is usually embedded into the laptop’s processor. Hence, this kind of graphics card lacks a dedicated VRAM.

As a result, it shares the system memory with the processor in order to perform graphics-related computing tasks. Consequently, with the Intel Iris Xe Graphics, the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha is not powerful enough to handle graphics-intensive tasks.

Also, the laptop won’t be able to play high-end games smoothly. Nevertheless, the laptop should be able to effectively play a few games under low graphics settings.

For example, while playing GRID Legends 2020 under low graphics settings, the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha should deliver around 78.8 fps. Also, the laptop should be able to play Elden Ring 2022 at 45.5 fps, also under low settings.

Away from games, let’s discuss this laptop’s performance on a 3DMark benchmark test. For clarity, 3DMark is a benchmark test that measures how well a computer’s graphics card is able to render 3D and 2D graphics.

Furthermore, in this test, the laptop with the highest score is considered the best. So, based on the test result, the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha delivered a score of 4301 points.

In comparison, the ASUS ExpertBook B3 Flip performed significantly less than this laptop, scoring only 2494 points. That’s not all; the Dell Latitude 13 7320 also performed less than the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha, recording 4020 points on the 3DMark test.

You should be aware that these competitors also use Intel Iris Xe Graphics.

All in all, I will rate the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha an eight out of ten in this graphics card review section.

Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha: Battery Life and Performance

The Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha comes with a 54 Wh battery. The manufacturer (Samsung) claims that the laptop can last up to 18 hours and 5 minutes.

However, according to the battery rundown test performed by windowscentral.com, the laptop lasted 17 hours. Although this battery life is slightly below the manufacturer’s claims, it is still very remarkable.

Hence, you can use the laptop for a whole day without the need to charge it. By the way, the battery rundown test involves browsing the web continuously via a Wi-Fi connection until the laptop dies.

In comparison, the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha has a better battery life than the HP Spectre x360 13-inch, which delivers a battery life of 6 hours. It also has longer battery life than the Lenovo Yoga 9i, which delivered a battery life of 9 hours on the test.

As a result, the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha deserves a rating of nine out of ten in this battery review section.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

The Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha proves that you can have exceptional performance and features at a reasonable price. Specifically, for a starting price of $699, this laptop features a good design, a powerful 11th-generation Intel processor, and a touchscreen FHD display.

Not only that, but this laptop also offers a sufficient 16 GB standard memory and a microSD card reader for storage expansion. Most importantly, the laptop flexes its muscles with an ample 17 hours of battery life.

However, it is quite disappointing that this laptop does not come with an S Pen. Also, it features a small number of ports.

Nonetheless, if you can cope with these few flaws, there is nothing stopping you from purchasing the Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha.

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